Francesca Bonelli
Academic background
University degree and Master degree in Political Sciences at La Sapienza, Rome.
Specialization on International Relations at the University of Lyon Lumiere Deux and Refugee Law at London School of Economics.
Overall experience
Ms. Bonelli has 24 years of humanitarian experience in refugee protection, managing emergency responses, and assisting people in situations of protracted displacement. Most of her work has been with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). She has served in operations across four continents: Africa (Dadaab, Darfur and Khartoum, Uganda, Angola), Asia (Pakistan, Afghanistan), Europe (the Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) and South America (Brazil). Ms Bonelli’s specific areas of expertise include, inter alia, coordination of emergency and humanitarian responses, interagency cooperation, community-based protection, refugee protection, unaccompanied children, economic and educational empowerment of refugees and the displaced populations, work with local communities to promote refugee inclusion. Ms. Bonelli’s early 2022 arrival in the Republic of Moldova followed her work since September 2015 in the Western Balkans in response to mixed movements of refugees and migrants. During this time, she served as UNHCR Representative in Serbia as well as UNHCR Deputy Regional Representative for Southeast Europe in Sarajevo. She also served as UNHCR Representative ad interim in Italy. In addition to Italian, her mother tongue, Ms Bonelli is fluent in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. She also studied Serbian during her time in the Balkans.